Letters to the Editor - August 30

Monday

Aug 30, 2010 at 12:01 AM

Readers comment on CHOICES, Main Street construction, Dove World and more.

CHOICES spending is a waste of tax dollarsI am amazed how much money is being spent on advertising for the CHOICES program.Channel 20 has had colorful ads every evening for several weeks, and The Sun has carried a number of ads all year. I would love to know how much County tax money has been spent on this advertising.We should face the facts; the program is not interesting to the average working person. And we should put on the ballot a vote to rescind and return the money to more useful purposes, like road repair.Don Perry,Gainesville

Another view of South Main StreetI can't imagine why The Sun would continue to make South Main a construction disaster. If your photographer had turned around and looked south from the corner of South Main and South Fifth Avenue, he would have seen an open road south.The merits of the project can be judged in a few years, when the toxic site at South Main is completed and Depot Park opened.Some of us love the bike lanes, lighting and openness. The Warehouse Restaurant is open and busy. The Civic Media Center continues with its library and events. The renovated Lynch Park will open soon as a landscaped and well-lit dog and people park. Soon the Citizens Food Co-op will begin work on its space.All this at South Main and Fifth Avenue. Give us a break! Joe Courter,Gainesville

Try compromiseWhat's with the attitude of "My way or the highway"? What ever happened to "Let's agree to disagree"?This way all parties could have an opinion, and perhaps we could get past the stalemates that are not helping to solve any problems that we as a country are facing.We need those we have elected to get away from self- and special-interests and help resolve problems the citizens in this country face. Cooperation from all is needed now, not division. Taxpayers deserve at least that.Linda Roinick,High Springs

Don't go to watchI have never sent a letter to the editor before, but the Dove World fiasco forces me to express my disgust and outrage.My plea to everyone: Don't go to watch. Don't show any curiosity about their actions. The more publicity, the more credence we lend it.Let them do this terrible deed without an audience, which is the only thing they are looking for.The best weapon we have against hate groups is not giving them an audience. Refuse to acknowledge them and, hopefully, the world will see by our absence that we do not condone this heinous act.Herman Vandgrift,Waldo

We're better than thisRecollections in The Sun of the student murders and the Dove World Outreach's planned stunt, are truly ugly marks on my hometown of Gainesville.Just as Gainesville is most accurately viewed 20 years later as a place that honors its community members rather than a place of horror, I am confident that hindsight will provide more emphasis on our unified rejection of Dove World's lunacy than characterizing our town by the embarrassing, isolated bigotry of a few.Andrew Coffey,Gainesville

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